


Honest Words

by allaire mikháil (allaire)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civil War Team Captain America, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 12:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20471015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allaire/pseuds/allaire%20mikh%C3%A1il
Summary: Steve's side of the Avengers has been pardoned in light of Thanos' imminent arrival. Sam is fed up with everyone's immaturity.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Let it all out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20457341) by [SonicTitanic23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicTitanic23/pseuds/SonicTitanic23). 

> This is another take on a situation presented in a story currently being posted to AO3 by another author. I dare say my version is as team-neutral as [the other one is.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20457341?view_full_work=true) You be the judge.
> 
> I have no idea whether I'll continue this post-chapter 2.

Tony couldn't hold onto himself anymore. "So wait? You're telling me that you let Barnes, still mentally compromised after almost six decades of being brainwashed until he hardly knew up from down, join in a fight that was supposed to be non-lethal and that he knew next to nothing about!?" He yelled. “And you claim he's your best friend. Now he's facing charges for Bucharest, Leipzig, Berlin and Siberia."

"Listen, Tony, that's not the point. You have to see that it's your fault that two men were separated from their families and are now on house arrest with only limited visitation rights to their own kids," argued Steve, scrubbing a hand across his tired, burning eyes.

"Shut your mouth already! Those two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Barton and Lang knew or at least should have known what they were doing. But Barnes only followed you because you were familiar to him, and because the asset was tortured into blind obedience," Rhodes hissed.

This back and forth had been going on all day. Ever since the so-called 'Team Cap' had returned to the compound and Rogers and Wilson – as his second-in-command – had been whisked away to a meeting with the New Avengers' leadership, both sides had been arguing about the events in Leipzig and later Berlin. Sam had been looking forward to a good night's sleep after their long flight. He couldn't help but feel steamrolled and outnumbered, although it was Steve who was the focus of Stark and his entourage's ire. So now he was stuck in a room in which one could have cut the tension with a knife, listening to what was just a small step above a couple's dispute in which far too many other people had something to say. The only difference he could see was that, instead of two romantic partners airing their dirty laundry, it was a group of superheroes behaving like five-year olds.

“Everyone, calm down and stop yelling,” Pepper said sharply. She looked as though she was fed up as well and tried to moderate the superheroes' argument. If asked, she would have said that it wasn't that much different from a board meeting, really.

“It's not your place to interfere, Miss Potts. You're not an Avenger and everyone knows you favor Tony, so you're hardly an unbiased party,” Steve said and sent her a disapproving look.

“Steve, we're supposed to get along, remember? And have you forgotten that Miss Potts is a reserve member ever since Stark made her the Rescue armor?” Sam reminded his friend who was getting skewered by Pepper's most forbidding look.

“Sam, you very well know that Miss Potts is behind the repurposing of the compound. A school and dorm for scholarship students, honestly? She just wanted us out of her sight,” Steve argued hotly. “If she was a true Avenger, she'd understand the necessity of us living under the same roof and having access to the compound's tech and training facilities.”

Pepper was made out of stern stuff, however, and showed no reaction to his 'Captain-America-is-disappointed-in-you' look.

The blond kid at the far end of the table, hardly older than Peter, started clapping his hands slowly, sarcastically. “At least Pepper sees you for the piece of crap you really are, Captain Douchecanoe,” he drawled. “You've murdered innocents, hurt and betrayed the Mechanic, and you're not even sorry for what you've done.”

“I had to save Bucky,” Steve said through clenched teeth. “And I've sent Tony an apology. Siberia's in the past. Tony is here and he's obviously fine. Your childishness has no place among adults, kid.”

Harley rolled his eyes and folded his arms in front of his chest with a huff, clearly having a lot more to say, but cowed by Pepper's admonishing look.

"Your apology - if you want to call your 'heartfelt' letter that – is a bit late, wouldn't you say, Steve? About two years, I believe," Tony said cuttingly.

“Remember Ultron, Tony? You're hardly the right person to argue about keeping secrets from your teammates.”

“I WAS CLEARED FOR ULTRON'S CREATION IN AN OFFICIAL INQUEST, ROGERS, AND YOU KNOW THAT!”

“THAT DOESN'T MATTER! ULTRON IS STILL YOUR FAULT!”

“I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT US ALL FROM THE NEXT ALIEN INVASION!”

“AND WHAT A GREAT JOB YOU'VE DONE OF THAT! NOVIGRAD IS STILL IN RUINS BECAUSE OF YOU AND WE'VE BEEN PARDONED BECAUSE THE NEXT ALIEN INVASION IS ALMOST ON OUR DOORSTEP!”

"Oh, so Little Miss Witchy Bitchy had nothing to do whatsoever with what destroyed Novigrad, huh?” Rhodes asked sarcastically. “Dr. Banner wasn't involved either, and Thor's hammer didn't help Ultron escape the staff and hijack Tony's programm. Nice to know who you think is to blame. Are you re-writing history? How come you let everyone put all the blame for Ultron on Tony?"

"Wanda is just a kid. She's impulsive and didn't know what she was doing,” Steve argued, trying to defend the young Sokovian he felt responsible for. “She regrets whatever role she may have played in Ultron's creation. Still, fact is that Tony was the one who messed with the scepter.”

"Damn, this whole back and forth is just a waste of time,” Sam burst out. “We're supposed to plan for an alien invasion. Why can't you see that this grudge you're clinging to is keeping us from doing our jobs?”

Suddenly everyone on Stark's side, particularly the two kids who in Sam's opinion were far too young to be present, were shouting and screaming at Steve who was yelling back, refusing to be cowed. Sam's head started pounding. He knew Steve wouldn't appreciate him taking over, but something had to be done. He jumped to his feet and whistled shrilly before yelling in his best drill sergeant's voice: “SHUT UF, EVERYONE!” Perhaps it was shock, but everybody actually fell silent. “You're all embarrassing yourselves! You're supposed to be the Avengers, not kindergarteners!”

"Is this the way you led your veteran groups, Wilson? Whoa."

"The 'shut up' part was meant for you in particular, Stark. You AND you, Steven Grant Rogers,” he sent Steve a quelling look that stopped the supersoldier in his tracks with his mouth already open, “are the reason we can't have a quiet discussion like adults. Both of you apparently are unable to listen to the other and the little you hear, you misunderstand immediately. The whole 'Civil War' could have been avoided if you'd ATTEMPTED TO FIND A COMPROMISE INSTEAD OF TRYING TO OBLITERATE THE OTHER SIDE AND COME OUT ON TOP AT ANY PRICE!”

“Wilson, you know Rogers. So you should know that to him, 'compromise' is a dirty word,” Tony said.

"It takes two to compromise, just like it takes two to fight,” Sam declared. “The battle in Leipzig could have been avoided if you'd talked to each other!”

"I offered to talk to Tony's side right at the German airport and he blew me off,” Steve explained with a sigh.

“You didn't really try to talk to Stark, did you?” Sam said slowly. “I blame myself because I think I gave you the idea. You tried to stall for time so we could steal the quinjet. You didn't say a word about the other winter soldiers, and even if Stark had tried to have an in-depth discussion about our issues with the Accords with you, you wouldn't have cared. Why did you listen to me about Stark? I hardly know the guy! Whereas you two have been teammates for years! You've lived together in the Tower, for God's sake! WHY DID YOU ACT AS THOUGH YOU KNEW ALL ABOUT STARK WHEN IN REALITY, YOU HAD NO FUCKING IDEA?!”

The resulting silence was heavy. No one seemed to be willing to say anything.

"Look, Mr. Wilson, I doubt whatever it was you said to Mr. Rogers was the cause for everything that followed,” Pepper soothed. “Even an honest attempt at a resolution wouldn't have stopped all that followed.”

Sam bit his lip and tried to put his thoughts into words.

"During Loki's invasion of New York, the Avengers were the heroes we all needed. Sure, the battle there cost us a lot, but it also brought us, humanity, closer together than ever.” He smiled, remembering the wave of solidarity that had swept through his city in the aftermath. “Then I joined the Avengers. Suddenly, Avengers missions were less about saving the world and more about fighting Hydra. In doing so, we caused a lot of damage. Dumping all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files online cost innocent lives. Then even more people died in Sokovia, in Nigeria, Romania and Germany. I might have lost sight of it for a while, but collateral damage isn't acceptable. Because of us, people died, lost loved ones, suffered permanent injuries or lost their livelihood, and we just ignored it. We need to strive to do better. Maybe we even need oversight for that. We couldn't agree on how to continue, and so the team broke apart.

“In Bucharest, we were trying to keep Barnes from being arrested and attacked law enforcement and civilians alike. Barnes was innocent of the attack on the UN, sure. But we should have fought for him in court, not in the crowded streets of a city. The innocent deaths there are on us.”

Steve shrank back in his seat.

“Also, I still have issues with your decisions regarding Barnes' hand in the Starks' deaths, Steve," Sam declared. "Your actions were unworthy of the name and title of Captain America. You see, superheroes are supposed to be BETTER. We're supposed to protect the world, not just individuals we have a personal interest in. We need to work through the issues between us so we can give the world the defenders it deserves.” He paused.

“And now I need some air. Steve, Natasha and I will talk to the Accords people about our new housing situation. Come find us later.”

Sam sank back against the meeting room's door once it had closed behind him and took a deep, shaky breath. His hands were sweaty. He felt disloyal for having criticized Steve in front of Stark and his entourage, but what else could he have done?


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had found a nice little spot out on the lawn and was sipping from a cold can of coke. He still felt a bit shaky and blamed himself for losing his cool. In the past, he'd taken great pains to convince the others of his levelheadedness, and now he'd blown it. Steve must be wondering why he'd ever decided to make Sam his second-in-command.

He found that he could empathize with Stark, of all people. Hearing Stark's friends defend him so passionately – and thinking back on the trauma the revelations of Siberia must have been for Stark – he found he no longer could stand unquestioningly at Steve's side. Stark wasn't the devil, no matter what Clint and Wanda claimed, and both he and Steve had screwed up.

How the hell were the Avengers supposed to repel the invasion by that titan guy when they couldn't even spend five minutes in each other's company without a fight breaking out?

“Sam?” Steve's shadow loomed over him. “Can I sit?”

“Sure,” Sam said with a half-smile. No sense in putting it off. “Pull up a piece of lawn.”

They sat in an uncomfortable silence until Steve cleared his throat and said: “I'm sorry it all got so out of control, Sam. Tony and his glib arrogance drive me crazy, but that's no excuse. As the Avengers' leader, I should do better than this.”

“It's not about who's the Avengers' leader, Steve. I don't think anyone in that room will be willing to follow your orders for a good long while. You've heard Thor's warnings. That Thanos guy is coming to Earth and we're hopelessly outclassed. This schoolyard bickering doesn't help.”

“Sam--”

"No, Steve.” Sam cut him off calmly. “You know I respect the hell out of you, but open your eyes and stop being so self-righteous! Yes, Stark could have done better in introducing the Accords to us. But they've been on the news, you know. FOR MONTHS. We all ignored them. Stark had retired from the Avengers. It wasn't his job to help us keep up with new developments on the international stage. He could have talked to Wanda instead of telling Vision to keep her inside. But then, YOU could have talked to Wanda as well. You were her team leader. She didn't have a visa. You might think we did nothing wrong in Lagos, but the Nigerians thought differently. You just ignored the issue because talking to the press, officially taking responsibility, wasn't high on your list of priorities in the face of your search for Barnes.” He clenched his hand around the empty can and felt it give. He only just suppressed the urge to throw away as far as he could.

“Stark was cleared for Ultron, so maybe it's time to give it a rest with mentioning that all the fucking time. You need to talk to Wanda. She's 26 years old and it's time she accepted her parents' death isn't on Stark, either. No one knows for sure whether or not it was an original Stark Industries missile in the first place, and even if it was, Stark didn't fire it, and he didn't sell it to whoever did since he wasn't SI's CEO at the time, either. Tony trusted Stane to run SI. Just like you, Natasha and Clint trusted Fury and missed Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

He refused to look over at Steve. He didn't want to see the expression on his face. Instead, Sam continued doggedly: “Stark, Rhodes and Vision shouldn't have agreed to play henchmen for Thunderbolt Ross. There were a ton of bad decisions made, and all we've ended up with is a broken team, lots of broken trust, your best friend back in cryo and Rhodes half-paralyzed.”

He clenched his fist even tighter and hissed when sharp aluminium cut into his flesh.

“Sam, let me see,” Steve's worried face bent over his bleeding hand. “This might need stitches.” He unearthed a handkerchief from God knew where, tied it around Sam's hand, put a hand on his shoulder and steered him back towards the compound.

***

It turned out one of the security guys had EMT training. Once Sam's hand had gotten stitched up and bandaged, Steve and Rhodes came into the room.

“You don't have super soldier healing, Sam,” Steve tried to joke. Rhodes looked at Sam, expressionless, but finally thawed enough to explain that the compound's medbay was no longer staffed and that Sam's impromptu nurse had deemed the wound not serious enough for an emergency room visit, although Sam could of course have one if he preferred.

Sam declined. “Look, Steve, Rhode-- Colonel Rhodes, I'm sorry for my overreaction. I shouldn't have--”

“Sam, it's okay.” Steve said.

“Steve, I--”

“Rogers is right, Wilson.” Rhodes interrupted. “There are bigger things at stake right now. For the sake of the world, we need to be able to work together. Nothing more, nothing less. We've all accepted that the fracture in the Avengers can't be healed on the fly, but we can and will all be adults about the Thanos issue.”

“I wanted to ask you to come back to the meeting,” Steve muttered. Suddenly Sam felt like a heel.

Somehow, he and Steve ended up hugging. As manly a bro-hug as they came, Sam thought with a smirk. Rhodes took a step back and shook his head, distinctly not amused at their antics.

“You were more than right,” Steve admitted quietly. “I focussed too much on Bucky on not enough on the rest of you all. Maybe I'm only half to blame for the situation, but I still need to take responsibility. You've made me see that.”

“Rogers can be a self-righteous hypocrite, but this time he really tried to do better,” Rhodes added. “Once you'd left, he apologized to Tony. And then all of our side apologized for our behavior, too. You've given us all the kick in the ass we needed.”

Steve sent Sam an encouraging look.

“Since we haven't really reached a consensus on the Thanos situation, Tony agreed to give us rooms for the next two or three days,” Steve said. “It will kind of be a test as to how we can get along now.”

Sam smiled and felt his heart lift. “That's great – thank Stark for me, will you, Colonel?”

“You can do that yourself later on,” Rhodes muttered. “And please be aware that the rest of the New Avengers lineup will show up either later tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. They might have a couple of words for you. I'd prefer it if you didn't make our underaged members cry.”

Sam and Steve just nodded, unsure if Rhodes was making a joke or not. 

“Steve,” Sam said slowly, unwillingly. “I believe there are some people you should have a talk with before the New Avengers show up.” Sam had Wanda and Clint in mind in particular. The situation was volatile enough without the young Sokovian or the lately permanently ill-tempered archer throwing oil onto the fire by insulting Stark either to his face or within someone else's hearing.

Steve stared back at Rhodes but followed Sam out of the room without protest.

***

Sam, Steve and Rhodes reentered the meeting room where Natasha sat next to Vision, Pepper and two unknown people as though she'd always been present. Sharp words seemed to be flying, but everyone fell silent when Sam spoke up.

“You're Captain Marvel, aren't you?” He asked starstruck, staring at the somber blonde seated next to what had to be--

“And you're that magician guy!”

The dark-haired man with a facial hairstyle similar to Stark's sighed loudly. “Sorcerer Supreme, if you please, Mr. Wilson.”

“I hope no-one here plans to waste my time,” the man continued. “You can call me Dr. Strange. My lovely companion is indeed Major Danvers.”

They all stared at each other for a long moment before Sam snagged Dr. Strange in the hopes of introducing him to Wanda at the first opportunity. Steve remained on the outskirts of the group, but later allowed Sam to drag him over to Major Danvers where they and Rhodes had a chat about the female superhero's experiences with an early S.H.I.E.L.D. and her adventures since. Sam found himself rather tongue-tied in the presence of one of his first role models. He finally needed a moment to breathe, hoping he hadn't been fanboying too much over Captain Marvel, and stepped away only to be intercepted by Tony.

“Look, Wilson, as little as I understand your unquestioning support of Rogers, I kind of get where you're coming from. I grew up with stories of Captain America told by a father who thought him perfect. I think you've finally taken off your blinders and might very well become a true superhero in your own right.”

“I might have followed Steve a bit too blindly,” Sam admitted. “But he's still my friend.”

“I'm aware,” Tony returned a bit sharply. “In the future, choose your own path, make your own decisions, and we might yet be able to be on the same team one of these days. I might even return Redwing to you. I guess we'll see how it goes, Wilson.”

Sam gritted his teeth and forcefully reminded himself that they were trying to build bridges here. He had no right to the little drone, but Stark's arrogance was galling.

Steve watched for a moment and felt a twinge of jealousy. Tony's face only showed a half-smile, sure, but at least he was talking to Sam. Whenever Steve came up to him, Tony always took an unconscious step back and refused to look him in the face. They still had a long way to go. He wished Sam focused on Steve's need to make peace with their old teammate over getting to know the new additions to the Avengers, no matter how much he might have heard about them.

He wanted everything back to normal, dammit. At least Sam had apparently managed to get the Avengers all talking again.

Baby steps, he reminded himself. Baby steps. Steve had apologized, and so had Tony. Even Tony couldn't hold a grudge forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After getting about 10 ranting, aggressive, personally insulting comments by team Cap stans (posted anonymously, of course) in the space of half a day, most likely written by the same person, I've changed the settings so that only logged in users can comment. I've also deleted the comments in question.
> 
> You want to discuss my story? Please show a modicum of politeness and stand by your opinion. This is not a depository for verbal trash.


End file.
